A manual on protecting CDs against illegal copying, this book shows how crackers copy CDs using various access methods. The methods covered include the CDFS driver, cooked mode, SPTI, ASPI, the SCSI port, and the MSCDEX driver. Explained is how to prevent cracker break-ins using protections based on nonstandard CD formats such as the CD driver and weak CD sectors. Information on CD functioning fundamentals and tips related to CD protection in a format free of math and assembling-such as data formats, the scrambler, the Reed-Solomon coder/encoder, the CIRC coder/encoder, and a weak-sectors generator-are also provided. The main program interfaces, which provide direct control via peripheral devices on the application level in UNIX, Novell, and Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP, are considered, as is how to read and write RAW sectors.

Going beyond the issues of analyzing and optimizing programs as well as creating the means of protecting information, this guide takes on the programming problem of how to go about disassembling a program with holes without its source code. Detailing hacking methods used to analyze programs using a debugger and disassembler such as virtual functions, local and global variables, branching, loops, objects and their hierarchy, and mathematical operators, this guide covers methods of fighting disassemblers, self-modifying code in operating systems, and executing code in the stack. Advanced disassembler topics such as optimizing compilers and movable code are discussed as well, and a CD-ROM that contains illustrations and the source codes for the programs is also included.

Tips for the practical use of debuggers, such as NuMega SoftIce, Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger, and Microsoft Kernel Debugger, with minimum binding to a specific environment are disclosed in this debugger guide. How debuggers operate and how to overcome obstacles and repair debuggers is demonstrated. Programmers will learn how to look at what is inside a computer system, how to reconstruct the operating algorithm of a program distributed without source code, how to modify the program, and how to debug drivers. The use of debugging applications and drivers in Windows and Unix operating systems on Intel Pentium/DEC Alpha-based processors is also detailed.

This comprehensive manual covers three areas in which system administrators must be proficient to successfully recover data: the structure and operating principles of the most popular file systems, automatic data recovery techniques, and manual recovery techniques used in cases of total data destruction. Data recovery from hard drives and optical storage in Windows, BSD, and Linux file systems is described, as are automatic recovery utilities, manual and automatic recovery of deleted files on ext2/ext3 partitions and NTFS partitions, formatted NTFS partitions and deleted UFS/FFS files, RAID data recovery, media restoration with physical damage, and data loss prevention.

Provides information on designing effective security mechanisms for e-commerce sites, covering such topics as cryptography, authentication, information classification, threats and attacks, and certification.